Lakeland Regional Medical Center Slated To Have Three USF Neurosurgeons By August

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Mar 9, 2013 at 10:56 PM

Patients who come into the trauma center at Lakeland Regional Medical Center need neurosurgeons available at all times to treat brain, head and spinal injuries.

By ROBIN WILLIAMS ADAMSTHE LEDGER

LAKELAND | Patients who come into the trauma center at Lakeland Regional Medical Center need neurosurgeons available at all times to treat brain, head and spinal injuries.Recruiting those much-sought-after specialists has been a struggle for many years, but a new arrangement between LRMC and the University of South Florida may have solved the persistent problem.LRMC is slated to have three USF neurosurgeons by August.One will be Dr. Michael Campanelli, its long-standing neurosurgeon, who for many months at a time has been the only one on call."It's been a lot of night calls, a lot of late nights," Campanelli said. "You take one day at a time."He was on call for almost 300 days in 2011-12, he said.With the essential focus on trauma cases, elective surgeries stack up. He has a three-month waiting list at his office for those surgeries.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNELAfter the anticipated arrival of more neurosurgeons, Campanelli said, he hopes to see that wait shrink and to be able to spend more time with his family, which includes 2-year-old twins and a 6-month-old.Campanelli. 47, joined the USF neurosurgery group last fall. He was an LRMC employee from 2006-2012 and before that was working in Lakeland for Winter Haven-based Neurology and Neurosurgery Associates.The other USF neurosurgeons will be new to LRMC. Dr. Jose Torres Gluck is coming from a New York practice. Dr. Tsz (pronounced cee) Lau is expected from USF after completing a fellowship."It will be the first time in the three years I've been here that we've had a full cohort of highly trained neurosurgeons," said Elaine Thompson, chief executive officer of LRMC and Lakeland Regional Health Systems."For over two years, we were trying to run it with one neurosurgeon," she said. "That's not good for the community."This is the seventh hospital for which USF is supplying neurosurgeons, under a variety of arrangements, said Dr. Harry Van Loveren, chairman of the neurosurgery and brain-repair department at the USF College of Medicine."We definitely saw the need to have a full three-person team (in Lakeland)," he said. "We're really glad to have this relationship."

CONTRACTBecause many trauma and emergency cases involve people with no insurance or inadequate insurance, the money USF collects for its neurologists' services isn't expected to cover their cost of providing that care.Lakeland Regional will make up the difference, an annual amount expected to be between $3.2 million and $4 million, the contract said.USF pays the neurosurgeons' salaries, with Campanelli's annual budgeted potential salary shown in a contract as $825,000 and Gluck's as $750,000. Lau's contract hasn't been signed, although he signed a letter of intent.The neurosurgeons get the protection from lawsuits given doctors who work for state institutions because they are USF employees. There are provisions for extra pay if they are on "first call" more than scheduled.USF pays the physicians and rents a building across from LRMC in which the neurosurgeons will have offices.

LONG-STANDING PROBLEMLakeland Regional's difficulty with not having enough neurosurgeons began long before Thompson arrived in 2010. Seven years ago, for at least nine months, Campanelli was the only neurosurgeon taking regular call for head-trauma cases.A couple of years later, even with another neurosurgeon on board, the hours Campanelli worked pushed his income from the hospital past the amount paid former hospital president Jack Stephens, customarily the highest paid LRMC employee.Florida has struggled with the impact of a "three strikes and you're out" law passed by Florida legislators in an attempt to weed out bad doctors. It caused some doctors in high-risk specialties like neurosurgery to leave the state and others to refuse to come.For LRMC, the law became a nightmare in recruiting."We had gone from seven neurosurgeons who would operate on the head to one in the entire county," Dr. Ed Sammer, then LRMC's chief medical officer, said in 2007.More currently: "We've struggled for years to get three neurosurgeons," Thompson said.Watson Clinic, which previously employed neurosurgeons, hasn't had that speciality since Dr. James Spence left in 2006. The Lakeland clinic isn't looking to recruit any, spokeswoman Nancy Martinez said.There's also a problem nationally because not enough doctors are going into that field, Thompson said.Aside from recruiting issues, Campanelli said, the brain-surgery program at LRMC is in fine shape. He and his surgical team are pleased with the recent arrival of the newest model of Brainlab, an imaging system.With it, he can hold a probe to the patient's head and get images on a screen, allowing more precise surgery.Most of his team members have been with him a long time."It works best when you have the same crew because you can anticipate needs," said Melissa Bryant, an advanced nurse practitioner who is Campanelli's assistant.

TURNING TO USF HEALTHThompson brought USF Health into the search for neurosurgeons in late 2011.Watson Clinic was expected to be involved."We are ready to work in concert with Watson to provide neurosurgery at LRMC," said a 2011 email from Dr. Stephen Klasko, chief executive officer of USF Health."We don't want to encourage invaders from Gainesville or Orlando. ... We look forward to working with LRMC. We are setting up talks with Watson and, no matter what, we are the best alternative for (neurosurgery) services at LRMC."An unexpected crisis in December 2011 put LRMC in need of immediate help."We are in a real pickle," Thompson emailed Klasko. "My one and only neurosurgeon, a great guy, Mike Campanelli, needs to have unexpected urgent surgery today. We just took us off the neuro-trauma from an EMS (emergency medical service) until we scramble to find coverage."She asked USF "if you can provide any immediate coverage for us."USF pitched in then and soon was recruiting for physicians willing to work in Lakeland more permanently.This is separate from the prospective merger of LRMC and USF Health.After being turned down by a neurosurgeon from Texas who was offered a $750,000 salary and benefits by USF, Klasko told LRMC: "Creating a solid neurosurgical team at LRMC will require a bit more money than we anticipated."One of that doctor's complaints was not getting to meet the hospital's chief executive. He also wanted assurance Campanelli would stay on and be content, Klasko said.Thompson made her interest clear to the two neurosurgeons due to arrive this year.She went to New York to help recruit Gluck, whom Thompson called a "very thoughtful, very talented neurosurgeon." The goal is to have him at LRMC by April 1, USF's Van Loveren said. Lau, finishing at USF in July, is expected in August."We fought for these guys," Van Loveren said, adding that Gluck "just wouldn't come into Florida without being a part of USF."Thompson also spent time with Lau."He seems to be an amazing physician, very sensitive," Thompson said.

[ Robin Williams Adams can be reached at robin.adams@theledger.com or 863-802-7558. Read her blog at robinsrx.blogs.theledger.com. Follow on Twitter @ ledgerROBIN. ]

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